Pardot Problems in Paradise
Updated September 20, 2017

Pardot Problems in Paradise

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Professional

Overall Satisfaction with Pardot

We use Pardot for an array of marketing functions. While Pardot’s primary use is to schedule our emails, it also allows us to create forms on landing pages with vanity urls. These landing pages allow us to track information requests, event registrations, or simply to showcase information on a short-term basis – something we wouldn’t normally put on our main website. We also use Pardot for its integrations with GotoWebinar and Eventbrite for tracking and generating attendee reports. This is helpful because it allows us to reach out to those who register, attend, and do not attend our events and send them follow-up emails.

Pros

  • Email automations can be regulated based on logic which means we can send specific emails to people based on behaviors.
  • Landing pages have forms that are very effective at gathering information from email readers.
  • Pardot’s integration network is extensive and it prevents rework.

Cons

  • There is no “undo” button for certain functions. For example, adding A/B testing to an email cannot be removed once added. An entirely new email must be made.
  • Pardot does not allow for multiple users to touch an email within a certain amount of time without erasing progress. If I build an email and send the link to my coworker to add a picture to it, it may delete the last 15 minutes worth of progress. Since snapshot saves occur every 30 seconds, you may not have a snapshot in your history that will fix this problem.
  • Landing pages and email templates are lacking. There are few designs to work from and I often find myself working from scratch when I need a landing page.
  • I believe Pardot has played a hand in our increased customer service efforts. We are able to better cater to our customers based on their email clicks, opens, and interest behaviors with Pardot’s automation logic by following up with corresponding communications.
  • Pardot’s integrations has made our marketing department more efficient. We no longer need to generate or repeat reporting metrics more than once.
  • With a more efficient marketing department, I think we have a more efficient company. Without being tied to increased reporting activities marketing has been able to better support the sales team and focus on our strategy.
My previous company was using MailChimp because we did not have the data volume needed for deep integrations. I would say that MailChimp’s interface is considerably more user friendly. Templates are better (and often used by Pardot if you view the source html code) and are less prone to breaking. MailChimp is also generates thorough reports and allows multiple users to work on the same email with ease. Where Pardot wins is with its suite of functionality and integrations. Pardot is better for companies with larger volumes of data.
I find Pardot’s best feature is its ability to integrate with many different systems. Pardot alone will not do any of your heavy lifting segmentations and provides a considerable amount of headaches in its less than smooth email creation process (fonts change, links break…), but for users who need a system which can integrate well with nearly every system, Pardot is your system. Specifically it is Salesforce’s integration with Pardot that allows direct import of detailed segmented lists from Salesforce. Pardot will hold these lists and match them with campaigns which show detailed reports of how each email is received by the audience. If your company does not need deep integrations, Pardot may not be the system for you.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
5
Dynamic content
8
Ability to test dynamic content
10
Landing pages
5
A/B testing
5
Mobile optimization
7
Email deliverability reporting
10
List management
6
Triggered drip sequences
9
Lead nurturing automation
8
Lead scoring and grading
Not Rated
Data quality management
Not Rated
Automated sales alerts and tasks
Not Rated
Calendaring
5
Event/webinar marketing
9
Social sharing and campaigns
7
Social profile integration
7
Dashboards
10
Standard reports
10
Custom reports
Not Rated
API
Not Rated
Role-based workflow & approvals
6
Customizability
7
Integration with Salesforce.com
10
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Not Rated
Integration with SugarCRM
Not Rated

Evaluating Pardot and Competitors

Yes - We replaced Marketo due to cost
Marketo has vastly superior product capabilities and better overall UI. Had price not been an issue, there was a strong argument to keep our Marketo setup.

Pardot Support

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